Prevalence and risk factors of obstructive sleep apnea in hypertensive emergency

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common factor associated with hypertensive crises. There is limited evidence of prevalence and risk factors of OSA in hypertensive emergency. Methods: This study recruited adult patients who diagnosed as hypertensive emergency and tested for OSA. The study period was between July 2019 and January 2020. The patients were categorized as OSA and non-OSA groups by the evidence from polysomnography. Prevalence and risk factors for OSA were executed. Results: During the study, there were 52 eligible patients. Of those, 30 patients (57.69%) were diagnosed with OSA. The stepwise logistic regression analysis for predicting OSA had two remaining factors: body mass index and diastolic blood pressure. Only body mass index was independently associated with OSA with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.166 (95% confidence interval of 1.033, 1.316). The body mass index of 25.02 kg/m2 gave sensitivity and specificity of 80.00% and 59.09%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 70.98%. Conclusion: OSA had high incidence rate in patients with hypertensive emergency. High body mass index was a predictor for OSA associated with hypertensive emergency.